Another couple days passed, and Arthur smiled slightly at the large amount of origin essence stones in his bag right in front of him.
With the sole exception of the Rank 2 Wind Stalker Fae and the Rank 1 Grass Regeneration Fae, Arthur handed everything else into the Clan Reserves.
Within Parachenko Village, a Rank 1 Fae went for around 20 origin essence stones, while on average Rank 2 Fae could be exchanged for around 120 origin essence stones.
Arthur handed in 5 Rank 2 Fae, and exchanged them for a total of 600 origin essence stones. He didn't exchange the Rank 1 Fae for origin essence stones, and instead opted to trade them in for specific Fae.
Arthur obtained a Metal Attributed defensive type Fae called Metal Arms Fae.
It was a Rank 1 Fae which continuously expended origin essence during its usage, which turned the arms of a person into metal. The metal possessed about the same durability as a shield, so it could be dented, or melted by extreme heat.
It possessed quite a few weaknesses, at least from Arthur's perspective, but provided him a greatly increased durability and offensive power in the event that he couldn't use his moonsword fae.
Arthur also obtained two Fae with compatible abilities, which similarly mimicked his moonsword and moonslice fae combination.
One was a large fae, about the size of a small canine or a large cat which possessed a strangely metallic looking horn on its head. The small furry creature looked similar to a horse, but possessed a much more buff body and a thicker hide.
This was a Halberd Fae.
A Rank 1 Metal Attributed Fae.
Contrary to its spear and trident counterparts, the halberd fae was much stronger, and much larger and heavier in comparison.
The other one, was one that Arthur was very familiar with.
Arthur smirked as he turned towards the tiny little bird in his hands.
This was a Woodpecker Fae.
A Fae that increased the piercing power of a Fae Master.
When these two Fae were used in conjunction with one another, the strength of both would allow Arthur to attack opponents at higher stages of cultivation.
Despite their respective strengths being relatively average separately, these two Fae brought out the best in each other and amplified their best attributes.
The metal arms fae and the halberd fae both ate mortal Rank fae material metals, while the woodpecker fae ate mortal Rank honey so both were relatively easy to obtain.
"But that's not all....".
Arthur turned to the small, white coloured creature laying down on the floor beneath him.
It was an extraordinarily creepy looking Fae, one that appeared to look like a squid, or some sort of tentacled creature. It's head was shaped like a cone, but opened up and revealed rows upon rows of tiny, serrated teeth.
The tiny, fingernail thick tendrils squirmed as it laid down on the cold floor, crawling slowly towards Arthur who picked it up and let out a deep breath.
'I guess Andrea didn't want to use this Fae', he thought.
Arthur took in a deep breath.
This was vein limit fae.
The one-time use fae which could increase a Fae Masters origin essence regeneration by double its normal speed.
The only problem was-.
"The method of activating this fae is extraordinarily painful".
Arthur laid down on his back and took off his shirt while holding the vein limit fae in his hand.
Letting it down gently on his chest, Arthur could feel it's slimy tendrils explore his chest and abdomen, before drawling down towards his belly button.
The thin, but numerous tendrils seemed to become excited the moment it found Arthur's belly button, and moved its thin, cone shaped head towards it before-.
Arthur's brows furrowed slightly in pain as he adjusted his breathing, ignoring the painful and weird sensation of the fae entering his body.
A little bit of blood leaked of his belly button before the wound closed up slightly as Arthur activated the grass regeneration fae.
Under the careful gaze of his origin essence sea, Arthur could feel the vein limit fae crawl up and throughout his body, burrowing its tendrils deep within his veins, detaching them as they slowly dissipated.
The vein limit fae need to enter the body through the belly button and then "injected" its tendrils into the veins, detaching them and allowing them to "expand" the veins "limits".
All this did was make his body produce more origin essence, but the process was unbelievably gruesome to the average person.
If Arthur looked down, he would be able to see a large lump, crawling over his chest and moving up and down his arms and legs.
The process didn't take very long, but to the person experiencing it, it might as well be a lifetime.
The exact moment when the vein limit fae expended all of its tendrils to expand the Fae Masters veins, their head would enter the stomach and dissolve in stomach acid.
The next time Arthur needed to go to the toilet, he would probably need to spend quite a bit of time there....
He let out a shallow breath.
His eyes gleaming with unknown intent.
"The combination of a second-tier talent, bloodseeker leaf fae and vein limit fae will make my cultivation speed roughly the same as Andrea's, if not just a little bit less".
Of course, that was just until Arthur reached Rank 2. Once he did, his cultivation speed would fall even below Randolf's, and perhaps just reach Alina and Ratimir under the lasting influence of the vein limit fae.
Arthur smiled.
"With this, I'll reach solid quartz origin essence in a about fifteen days. Once that happens I'll only need to wait until the end of the year until the beast tide begins".
The beast tide was the biggest event of this year, and cause lots of chaos and grief to reverberate throughout the Winter Rain Mountain.
With the Boundless Forest Yearning Sovereign Boundary Physique in play, the Kovacs Clan might not get hit with nearly as many causalities, especially if Andrea can increase her Affection Tree Fae to Rank 2.
Arthur nodded.
"That'll be my time to strike".
With all the chaos and beasts running rampant throughout Winter Rain Mountain, Arthur would definitely curse himself if he didn't take advantage of the literally perfect opportunity.
With his newly estimated cultivation speed, Arthur would definitely reach Rank 2 before the beast tide came.
His relationship with Andrea was developing perfectly and the closeness between them would decrease the chances of her either realizing something was going wrong, and by extension doing something about it.
Arthur sat up, suppressing a wince in his stomach as he stretched his body.
For a second there, Arthur thought he could feel the gaze of someone on his body, causing him to instantly turn around, moonsword fae in hand.
His blade carved a long, metre long gash into the stone wall behind him, and nothing but the flickering flight of candle fae could be seen.
Arthur frowned for a moment narrowing his eyes before letting the moonsword fae vanish as Arthur's expression froze.
After a few seconds, a polite smile marred his face.
"It seems there is a little bug that needs to be removed before I can continue".